Into the Nothing
by EvilToast
Summary: After the fight with Kurosaki Ichigo and being whisked away to ashes, Ulquiorra finds himself in a strange realm where the roles of objects and colors are reversed and there is no escape. Can he find a way to get out? Ulquihime


Things have branched out in the opposite way than I had hoped for or expected for since my encounter with the heart. My departure from the realm of Hueco Mundo is far different from the mere Heaven or Hell that people gossip about constantly. No… it is a far different realm than any of the punishable or enjoyable places that these humans speak of. The ground looks as if it is in the sky; the dark blue hues that were once there are now replaced with those that match the sand and the clouds that used to be white and feathery are now the dark blue that the sky used to be. The ground that my feet now stand on is black, tainted with ash. There is no moon… there is no moon with its replenishing, warming light to reassure my heart from the nothingness that surrounds me.  
I sit in this darkness; my thoughts are blank, bland… and lonely. Nothing consumes them more than the memory of her. The memory of her tears as I ravished her savior's body with my very own claws that are stained with the torment of her soul; the memory of her eagerness to save the boy and her fear of losing him once he was consumed with the nothingness that I had bared for so long before that. But the memory that most haunts me is the one of the compassion that filled those lost eyes when she approached this mad creature with the heart that became a part of my soul while my body entered this lost empty place…. And now….I linger in this nothingness as if…. It never happened.

When the fair prince of nothingness awoke, he found himself in the mundane desert he had been in for what seemed like centuries. His eyes fluttered opened and met the sand colored sky with the night colored clouds. His hands gently grasped the ash colored sand that his lean muscular body rested on. He sat up slowly and placed a furred claw onto his forehead. Ulquiorra stood slowly and looked up at the blankness of the sky. His eyes, dull and emotionless the way they had always seemed, looked about him through the wasteland though he knew there would be nothing there, but there was still room for hope in his lost soul. His eyes met the moonless, color distorted sky again only to find nothing like usual.

He wandered hopelessly around the land in boredom; he searched for nothing and neither did he feel a need for something such as hunger or thirst… those were the cores of emptiness, he reminded himself. The only thing that was left for him now-in order to not go crazy- was to let Murcielago toy with his imagination and emotions. At the moment the beast that was the essence of his being was dormant and asleep. The prince of nothingness begged, almost prayed, for this monstrosity that existed within him to awaken and entertain him. As he walked, he tried to count the tiny, black dust explosions he made with every step into the tarnished soil.  
"Murcielago…" he whispered desperately as his eyes closed and his thoughts flew into his mind… the same mundane thoughts that coursed his brain every day. Or was it every night? He never recalled it ever being day. But, that was the life of Hueco Mundo as well, a moon but never a sun. His golden irises hit the blackened dirt again, his pace slowing as he counted down until a voice finally interrupted the silence of his mind.  
"Ulquiorra…" The voice teased with a snicker; a figure appearing before him and its black furred feet with clawed toes meeting into the sight of that of our Prince of Oblivion. The creature that now stood before him was clad in absolutely nothing, only hiding his manhood behind the thick black fur that encased him from his waist down just like Ulquiorra. The creature that stood before him was the exact mirror of Ulquiorra with the bare chest, running black "paint stain" markings on his chest with the smeared tear line marks on his face, with the green eyes with gold irises, wings, horns, long tails, paled skin and the signature black and white lips. Murcielago, as he was called, had only very few differences from Ulquiorra as a creature though; those differences being that instead of only one set of wings, he had two along with a set of strange long bat like ears that looked as if they were skin but were fur instead. He had a few more random markings on his body as well as a more animalistic like hunched body and animalistic aura about him.  
"So…" Ulquiorra began, "You have awoken…"  
"So it seems," Murcielago retorted at his case with a smirk.  
"Murcielago…" The soft, almost silent voice murmured in boredom.  
"Hm?" Murcielago asked, growing irritated.  
Ulquiorra shot a soft glare at his inner creature as a reply to the tone of voice he received. However, the inner demonic creature took no notice to it. The Prince sighed and took a step passed him. "We will continue our search for anything today…." Ulquiorra said even though he knew full well that there was nothing here besides ash colored sand.

Murcielago chuckled and danced around Ulquiorra with teasing remarks that would drive anyone-including the Shadow Prince himself- insane but, luckily Ulquiorra had the composure to keep himself calm and concentration to block them out. But in all truth, he was almost amused by them… but that is what happens when you are stranded in a place you are not sure that even exists. Ulquiorra sighed as he noticed that even though he and his companion had been trekking around this place for close to half an hour now, that there was nothing around.

He also knew that there was no way for him to get out of there, "Perhaps if I could go back and…"

He stopped and thought. Go back… that was it. Going back was the answer. It was the answer with a very complicated process that seemed just about impossible to him though. Impossible it was, for he would have to be in the presence of _her _in order for him to do it; he almost considered_ her_ to be his answer to the whole equation. He also remembered a moment he shared in his life with many others with his explanation of how her hair pins worked and how they most likely operated with the reverse of time. He remembered his interest being sparked by her presence…

He considered the options of trying to find a way to contact her but he also knew that that was impossible. He looked around him only to find that he was still being circled by a very merry but disturbed Murcielago. He stared back at his casing with a much distorted and even creepy smirk.

"Ah~ it seems as though my Ulqui-chan has given birth to an idea…" He murmured.

"So it seems," he replied back to his inner being.

"And?" Murcielago asked, suddenly behind Ulquiorra, his face in the crook of his neck with his ever curious smirk still on his face.

"Reverse time," Ulquiorra answered bluntly with a bit of a glare at Murcielago.

Murcielago chortled deeply and vanished to a black smoke then appeared before him again coming into sight from the black, swirling smoke. He crossed his arms with an amused smirk on his face, "Oh~?"

Ulquiorra stared at him with his casual blank stoic.

"And how do you plan to do that? Ulquiorra, do you really hope to get out of here with _her_ help when she isn't even here? If there is no way for you to _contact_ her?" Murcielago teased him.

A low growl from his throat that was aimed at what he considered his inner demon. He simply ignored his question and continued his hopeless trek through the land of ash. Murcielago was silenced by the Prince's thoughts once again; he honestly didn't know how he was going to get himself out of here. And even though he hated to, he had to admit that Murcielago… was right. Perhaps he had let his hopes for escape get too high or let his very inactive imagination get in one too many ideas for the time being.

Though he was certain that it was impossible for him to get out of this wasteland he still pondered on a idea for himself to make it back to the living world. He looked at the bland sky and then at the silent demon at his side; he looked at his fur coated hands and then at the sky again. 'Of course… why hadn't he thought of it earlier?' He questioned himself as he propelled himself into the air with a swift flap of his large, leathery wings. Within moments he was levitating high in the beige colored sky and as he reached the desired height he looked around him to see if perhaps there was anything around… nothing.

He scanned the endless, black horizon in search of something, _anything_ and just as he was going to return to the floor he found something that he found out of the norm for this bland kingdom that he had ruled. It was a dim light that pulsated far in the distance; from the color of the sky it almost looked as if there was a sun rising over the murky horizon. He glanced down at the creature that stared up at them then he took off towards the glowing illumination that seemed as if it were miles away. The jolt of speed was so fast that Murcielago barely noticed that he had taken off.

Murcielago sighed and then disappeared into the same swirling, black vapor that he had done the same in earlier. When appeared by his subordinate he found him staring at a strange light in the center of a small crevice. Ulquiorra took a few steps toward the shining object and felt a heavy aching in his chest with every step that he took. The Prince of Gloom place his hand on his chest with a light wince and looked at his furry claw that was placed over his left peck then at the illuminating object that seemed to float in mid air.

The Prince tried to get a better look at the thing by squinting his eyes and was just barely able to make out the shape of… a heart? In fact as he stared at the thing even more, he saw the thing pulsate and knew that that was the reason for the vibrations in the light and the rhythm of the ache in his chest. He could feel his eyes widen at the realization he just made and he glanced back at his chest then returned his gaze at the heart.

He found himself further fascinated with his discovery and he continued in pursuit after the thing that was the exact reason why he had died. He now was just a arms length away from the heart that was now pulsating even faster as if it were his own that was filled with excitement and the glow grew brighter until it was finally blinding. The creature that stood before it reached his hand out hesitantly and when his hand gently clasped about the thumping heart the light disappeared and the upbeat pulsing stopped.

Ba~Bump…Ba~Bump… Ba~Bump…

He stared at it with awe and turned to look at Murcielago just so he could see his soul's reaction to what just occurred but to his surprise he wasn't there. He brought his gaze back to the heart that sent visible sound waves out at each pump and he sighed gently with closed eyes.

When he opened them he found himself under the moons light with the deep blue sky and the sparkling stars that were sprinkled a crossed the sky. 'What?' He questioned himself with awe and then sat up abruptly and looked around him only to be confronted by a soft pair of what seemed like familiar hands. They enclosed his cheeks and gently stroked them with their thumbs. He brought his green and yellow eyes up to see who could possibly be stupid enough to make such a motion but then he saw _her_.

She smiled at him warmly and as he looked closer he noticed that she had tears trickling down her cheeks. He could feel his eyes widen again and a thumping increase inside of him. He looked down at his chest for the umpteenth time during that time and noticed that his hollow hole was now filled up and the empty space was replaced with flesh. He placed his furry claw over the hole and then stared at it for what seemed like eternity.

"H-how…" he started but was cut off by a tight hug from the girl that sat in front of him. He found himself lying on the ground again being held by the girl who had haunted his every thought. Ulquiorra gently tangled his claw in a mass of soft, orange hair; and then he did something that he thought he would never do…he smiled. It was a faint one if anything but a smile was a smile.

Ulquiorra brought his topaz orbs to the glowing ball in the sky that was known as the moon and he listened to the pulse of the woman's heart beat that echoed that of his own. The smile that possessed his lips stretched just a little farther.

"Her heart was always… in my hands," He murmured softly as he closed his eyes to let this warm relaxing sensation take over the rest of his body.


End file.
